that's an awful big box for such a simple teeny tiny circuit. I took the schematic and made a very nice compact small perf board layout. I could build one of these into a 1590a enclosure. small enough that it would be thinner than your average guitar strap. and lighter too. You could even get it so that it has a mogami cable coming out of it and a clip on the enclosure- so you could just plug it in and have a short cable going strat to your guitar clip it on your strap and plug the other end into your pedalboard or amp or whatever. having the cable built in would eliminate another jack and another place to lose signal quality removed.

If you're interested I could share my layout for the circuit. If not PM me!

Deadhead85 wrote:How does this pedal react with active pups, like EMG?

not well, the pedals preamp converts a high impedance signal to a low impedance signal. preamps that are already low impedance, such as active emg pickups do not feed the corrct impedance to the preamp. you may want to try just the effects loop in an offboard pedal unit with an already active system.

Mine works great... I put my boost and overdrive up front, run all my effects (chorus, EF, delay, etc) through the buffer, then out to reverb and then the amp. Allows me to set up a combination of effects and turn them all on at the same time... plus the benefit of the low impedance buffer. Yah... it could be smaller, but so could a lot of things.

Guys
Buffers in general are very LOW TECH. Been around for ages. There are perfectly good ones out there for well less than $100. I use one from T1M and it works great .

here is the link in case anyone is interested. All a buffer does is convert a signal from hi impedance to low impedance. Rather basic technology. It is not rocket science and I am sure Waldo would agree with this statement.

this is what I use for what its worth and it works perfectly on my board . If you have a lot of buffered pedals, it may not give you the bang for the buck you are looking for. I use the one with the TB swtich, so I can AB with and without the buffer. It is first in my chain. For very large pedalboards, consider a dual buffer (input and output buffers) or put a buffered pedal at or near the end of your chain. They really work...... so if you have more than 4 or 5 effects, it is a good investment regardless of what buffer you buy.

Be careful, racecar, the issue of the relative effectiveness of different buffer circuit can be sticky here. I myself agree basically with everything in your post. And thanks a lot for the link to those cool small and cheap buffers. Though I have a TPC-1 is my own Tiger style Jerrycaster and have used a CAE in one I sold just last month (both worked equally effectively to my ears) [EDIT: I just realized, it's probably the other way around, the CAE is in the guitar I kept and the TPC-1 in the one I sold, which emphasizes, I suppose, how they sound alike to me] and my Line 6 M13 has a user-selectable global buffer option, I've been keeping my eyes open for a portable little one just like those you posted about!

Agreed... On my big board I use waldo's buffer pedal with effects in and out. I put it half way through and run delay, chorus, phaser, and EF through it so that I can configure what I need ahead and turn them on with one press. I follow everything with reverb, but it is out of the loop. I tend to like my boost, over drives, and compression up front. I've actually been thinking of making a tiny buffer to put under a smaller board that could sit with the power supply... I don't really need to see or turn it on/off. For $39 I don't think I'd bother making my own.

racecar wrote:Rather basic technology. It is not rocket science and I am sure Waldo would agree with this statement

Absolutely agree 100%, but to state the result is all the same is absolutely subjective.

As for buffered pedals in general, Alembic makes one in a cable for over $300, CAE Sound sells all of theirs in boxes starting at $179, but none of these include a switchable effects loop with master volume like mine at $125 plus shipping. I wouldn't say it is rocket science, but it does take some amount of skill and time to build. Especially if your a one man shop.

~waldo

Disclaimer: I get paid to make, modify or build things for those that seek what i may be able to provide.

racecar wrote:Rather basic technology. It is not rocket science and I am sure Waldo would agree with this statement

Absolutely agree 100%, but to state the result is all the same is absolutely subjective.

As for buffered pedals in general, Alembic makes one in a cable for over $300, CAE Sound sells all of theirs in boxes starting at $179, but none of these include a switchable effects loop with master volume like mine at $125 plus shipping. I wouldn't say it is rocket science, but it does take some amount of skill and time to build. Especially if your a one man shop.

~waldo

+1 Couldn't agree more and Waldo's is the best deal!

I think the buffer sounds/works better in the guitar anyway. Just my opinion.

racecar wrote:Rather basic technology. It is not rocket science and I am sure Waldo would agree with this statement

Absolutely agree 100%, but to state the result is all the same is absolutely subjective.

As for buffered pedals in general, Alembic makes one in a cable for over $300, CAE Sound sells all of theirs in boxes starting at $179, but none of these include a switchable effects loop with master volume like mine at $125 plus shipping. I wouldn't say it is rocket science, but it does take some amount of skill and time to build. Especially if your a one man shop.

~waldo

+1 Couldn't agree more and Waldo's is the best deal!

I think the buffer sounds/works better in the guitar anyway. Just my opinion.

Interesting observation. I would like to understand how you came up with your opinion. Did you test buffers inside a guitar vs. in a pedal? Please share your observations, because they are quite contrary to my own personal experience, and if the buffer colors my tone in any manner, then it is doing something wrong as that is not what a buffers intended purpose is. Having it in a pedal allows your to use it with all your guitars, if you have more than one and they don't happen to all have a buffer in the guitar. Surely saves a lot of money. And I do agree with Waldo that his pricing is appropriate for the features it offers. Never doubted that, but if all you are looking for is a no frills buffer , there are lower cost options out there if money is an issue. YMMV

To get the most benefit from an initial buffer, it has to be as close to the pickup signal as possible, ie, in the guitar and in conjunction with the OBEL with the 25K volume pot. Otherwise, you are running the signal through the volume and tone controls, the jack, and the first guitar cord, before it hits the buffer. With that added capacitance,(prior to buffering), I have found by listening, that it actually makes an audible difference. Granted, it is a somewhat small difference, but it is there. I put one of Waldos buffers in a pedal ( just to experiment) using a stock strat, I AB'd it with a guitar that has Waldos buffer in it with the OBEL and 25k volume pot. Like I said, it's a small difference, but you can hear it.
I can understand , to an extent, people not wanting to put a buffer in all your guitars and using one in a pedal instead, for convenience, but it is not the same. Close, but no cigar!

Seriously, just as you ran your test comparing the buffer in your guitar versus before your effects, run the same test with a buffer before your effects (assuming the effects aren't themselves buffered and not true bypass, if so, you already have a buffer in your signal path) as compared to no buffer at all. You should hear a quite audible effect there, too.

Then compare the same exact guitar with the on board buffer disconnected and with a buffer before your effects plus slight adjustments to your rig's controls to compensate for any otherwise audible signal loss. My guess is any resulting differences would be tough to discern in a mix but this is just a guess and I'm open to hearing differently.